“I am glad that the European Council saw, appreciated, and made a fair decision regarding Georgia,” stated Georgian Parliament Chairman Shalva Papuashvili.
“On this day, I would especially like to congratulate our civil servants, who have built a state worthy of EU membership over the years.
I’d want to congratulate our soldiers, in particular, who have demonstrated that Georgia is a guarantee of international security and, in this sense, a member of one huge family by participating in international missions.
I’d want to congratulate every Georgian who works hard in their sector, making today’s decision possible.
I would also like to congratulate Ukraine and Moldova on the decision to open negotiations. In general, the meeting of the European Council fully justified the expectations,” Papuashvili said.
Papuashvili stated that “Georgia’s rightful obtaining of EU candidate country status today, will be remembered as a watershed event of historic proportions.”
“Since our independence, the main goal of our national effort was to return to where Georgia belonged historically. We have nothing to prove about our belonging to Europe – we were the earliest European Christian nation, an Eastern bastion of Christendom for centuries, one of the earliest fully electoral European democracies over a century ago, and, finally, a nation that, in the past three decades, made a miraculous comeback from Soviet occupation to become a fully deserving candidate member of the European Union.
We, the Georgian people, in our entirety, with all our agreements and contradictions, are the true heroes of this historic feat. But also, our civil servants, police, and armed forces, who worked tirelessly to secure our freedom and independence and take the country to the European family, are the champions of this historic achievement.
And it was the political will of Georgian Dream government that led the country in the past decade towards the fulfillment of our constitutional pledge and historical destiny. Congratulations, Georgia, and long live your freedom and unity with Europe!” the Speaker underscored.
